Alyssa Healy Fires a Second Century to Send Australia into Cricket World Cup Final Four

Alyssa Healy has delivered outstanding consecutive hundreds to guide her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive win over their opponents.

The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just a few days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their goal of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.

“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” she said.

Interestingly, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s run-chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after perhaps the team's shoddiest display in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the six catches that went down.

“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily delivered,” she added.

From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches represented Australia’s poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.

“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy said.

This allowed the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.

But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was key to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.

Healy Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Place

Healy was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.

The 35-year-old captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.

Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Fifty

Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after her partner got there off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.

Earlier, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire rejected their shout.

The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.

Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads

Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.

Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to 13.

Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took the team to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days before.

“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to take on England and South Africa.”

Mark Hurst
Mark Hurst

A blockchain enthusiast and writer with a passion for demystifying crypto concepts for everyday investors.